International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)
Volume 4 Issue 5, July-August 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
The Positive Impact of Plastic Recycling in the Built
Environment, Architecture and the Waters of the World
Obiadi, Bons N
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Sciences,
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
One of the ever present facts of human existence is the generation of wastes.
Collection and disposal of these wastes, which are mostly plastics have always
been major concerns of societies for both health and economic reasons. Every
hour, Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles, most of which are thrown
away. About 9.1% of plastic production was recycled in the U.S. during 2015
although, varying by product category. Plastic packaging was recycled at
14.6%, plastic durable goods at 6.6%, and other non-durable goods at 2.2%.
Currently, 25 percent of plastic waste is recycled in Europe, Americans
recycled 3.14 million tons of plastics in 2015, down from 3.17 million in 2014.
It is the primary aim of this article to draw attention to the benefits of
recycling plastics and how it is helping in keeping the built environment
healthy. The instrument of more than two research strategies; quantitative
and qualitative research methods and their tactics were used. Secondary data
were based on direct observation and relevant documents from previous
studies on the related matter. Plastic recycling faces many challenges, ranging
from mixed plastics to hard-to-remove residues. The cost-effective and
efficient recycling of the mixed plastic stream is perhaps the biggest challenge
facing the recycling industry. With the abundance of empty plastic bottles and
soil, most poor communities have embarked on taking advantage of the
resources in building comfortable houses for themselves and the use of these
resources have helped in keeping the built environment clean.
How to cite this paper: Obiadi, Bons N
"The Positive Impact of Plastic Recycling
in the Built Environment, Architecture
and the Waters of
the World" Published
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International
Journal of Trend in
Scientific Research
and Development
(ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456IJTSRD33134
6470, Volume-4 |
Issue-5, August 2020, pp.1427-1435, URL:
www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd33134.pdf
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International Journal of Trend in Scientific
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KEYWORDS: environment, recycling, architecture, road construction, landscape,
regeneration
INTRODUCTION
The rapid increase in municipal solid waste is a significant
global problem. Municipal solid waste is what everyone else
calls garbage. It’s about bottles, cans, disposables, diapers,
uneaten food, scraps of wood and metal, worn-out tires, and
used-up batteries, papers and plastic packages, boxes,
broken furniture and appliances, clippings from our lawns
and shrubs-the varied human refuse of our modern
industrial society, Obiadi and Ezezue, (2015) citing Porter
(1989). As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development stated, population growth and increasing per
capital output have led to an increasing generation of goods,
and hence of waste. Also increasing per capita income and
changing patterns of consumption have resulted in materials
previously regarded as useful now being discarded. In short,
per capita waste generated has been rising sharply, leading
to increased disposal cost; there is no indication that this
trend would significantly be reversed in near future unless
appropriate measures are taken. Additionally, locational
changes such as the continuing migration of people to urban
areas, and the concentration of livestock into intensive
production units, exacerbate local problems of waste
disposal (Obiadi and Ezezue, 2015).
One of the ever present facts of human existence is the
generation of wastes. People produce wastes in their homes,
work places and leisure area. Collection and disposal of these
wastes have always been major concerns of societies, for
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both health and economic reasons. As global population
increases at tremendous rate, waste generation throughout
the world has also drastically increased; however, this
problem is most acutely felt in the least developed counties
(LDCs). In 1996, two thirds of the respondents to the solid
waste management research conducted by Obiadi and
Ezezue (2015) indicated that, they did not recycle their
garbage. However, their field study shows that the people
actually recycle without knowing what they were doing. All
the cities had what they called “Ndi-onono-nkpo” (used item
contractors). These contractors walked around the streets,
buying empty bottles, plastics containers, news papers and
other valuables. The used items were resold to the
merchants in the market or in-front of the hospitals who
used them for different needs (resale).
In 2012-2013, 117 out of the 255 (46%) respondents to their
research indicated that they recycle their garbage while 54
percent do not. The percentage of the respondents, who
indicated that they recycled their garbage in 1996 increased
by 9 percent. In 1996, it was 37 percent. The field study
shows that more people recycle now than they did in 1996.
In the communities today, there is insatiable want for empty
water plastic containers used by both petty traders,
industries and at homes, in storing different products
including, but not limited to, palm oil, palm wine, kerosene,
petrol, malaria medicines, fruit juices and endless list of
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others. Industries now buy large quantities of both plastic
containers and metal products and recycle them into other
products and most of them either resold or exported. This
recycling aspect of municipal solid waste disposal has helped
in keeping clean, the communities. In all the three cities
studied by the researchers, Lagos, Enugu and Onitsha,
Nigeria, selling both plastic bottles and empty sachet water
wraps on their streets was a common practice. In 1996, such
was not the case. In 2012 – 2-13, their field study shows that
most of the sachet water wraps and the empty plastic water
containers ended up in gutters (plates 1 and 2) and water
ways (Obiadi and Ezezue, 2015).
a product from such material surely poses longevity of
durability. Another good thing is that she already devised a
means to make the tiles beautiful by making them in various
colours (plate 3). From the tons of wastes the nation
generates on a daily basis, if thoroughly harnessed, this
business should not fade of any moment soon (My Engineers,
2020).
Plate 3. Colored ties used in building construction and
erosion control
Source: Obiadi (2017)
Plate 1. Randle Street, Surulere, Lagos Water Channel
clogged with empty plastic water containers
Source: Obiadi (2012)
Plate 2. Surulere, Lagos Population Census area canal,
covered and blocked with millions of empty plastic
water containers
Source: Obiadi (2012)
With the global environmental concerns, a Nigerian, Intissar
bsahir-Kurfi, based in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT) of the Nigeria, channels her energy into converting
wastes from sachet water nylons and other recyclable
plastics into interlocking tiles (plate 3) in the FCT. Her drive
emerged from her hatred for seeing plastics and sachet
water nylons litter the streets and eventually washed by
erosion to block drainages thereby causing flood in the
community and posing danger to the inhabitants. Her
passion is to see a clean environment free from litters and
also make good use of the wastes by converting them into
reusable products. According to her, the interlocking tiles
made from plastics and nylons are more durable than
regular ones because nylons ordinarily can stay several
years in the layers of the earth without decay, hence making
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According to the data presented by LeBlanc (2019), every
hour, Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles, most of
which are thrown away. About 9.1% of plastic production
was recycled in the U.S. during 2015 although, varying by
product category. Plastic packaging was recycled at 14.6%,
plastic durable goods at 6.6%, and other non-durable goods
at 2.2%. Currently, 25 percent of plastic waste is recycled in
Europe, Americans recycled 3.14 million tons of plastics in
2015, down from 3.17 million in 2014. Recycling plastic
takes 88% less energy than producing plastics from new raw
materials. The energy saved from recycling just a single
plastic bottle can power a 100 watt light bulb for nearly an
hour. Currently, around 50% of plastics we use are thrown
away just after a single use and plastics account for 10% of
total global waste generation and plastics can take hundreds
of years to degrade. The plastics that end up in the oceans,
break down into small pieces and every year around 100,000
marine mammals and one million seabirds get killed eating
those small pieces of plastics.
The trend in plastic manufacturing is changing and a lot of
plastic manufacturers use recycled plastics both in their
products and product packaging and a lot of authors have
defined plastic recycling differently. According to LeBlanc
(2019), plastic recycling refers to the process of recovering
waste or scrap plastic and reprocessing the materials into
functional and useful products. This activity is known as the
plastic recycling process. The goal of recycling plastic is to
reduce high rates of plastic pollution while putting less
pressure on virgin materials to produce brand new plastic
products. This approach helps to conserve resources and
diverts plastics from landfills or unintended destinations
such as oceans. Plastics are durable, lightweight and
inexpensive materials. They can readily be moulded into
various products which find uses in a plethora of
applications. Every year, more than 100 million tons of
plastics are manufactured across the globe. Around 200
billion pounds of new plastic material is thermoformed,
foamed, laminated and extruded into millions of packages
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and products. Consequently, the reuse, recovery and the
recycling of plastics are extremely important.
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste
plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products.
Since the majority of plastic is non-biodegradable, recycling
is a part of global efforts to reduce plastic in the waste
stream, especially the approximately 8 million metric tons of
waste plastic that enters the Earth's ocean every year
(Hardesty and Wilcos, 2015, Jambeck, 2015). Compared with
lucrative recycling of metal, and similar to the low value of
glass recycling, plastic polymers recycling is often more
challenging because of low density and low value. There are
also numerous technical hurdles to overcome when
recycling plastic. Materials recovery facilities are responsible
for sorting and processing plastics. As of 2019, due to
limitations in their economic viability, these facilities have
struggled to make a meaningful contribution to the plastic
supply chain (Municipal Sector, 2019). When different types
of plastics are melted together, they tend to phase-separate,
like oil and water, and set in these layers. The phase
boundaries cause structural weakness in the resulting
material, meaning that polymer blends are useful in only
limited applications.
Nearly all types of plastics can be recycled. However, the
extent to which they are recycled depends upon technical,
economic and logistic factors. Plastics are a finite and
valuable resource, so the best outcome after their initial use
is typically to be recycled into a new product. Across the
United Kingdom (UK), as part of local authorities waste
management, nearly all councils provide plastics recycling
collection. This plastic is then 'post-consumer' plastics
packaging waste, and is supplied to the recycling sector. The
amount which is collected and recycled has increased each
year for at least the last twenty-five years (Plastic Recycling,
2020).
According to Plastics Europe (2019), capturing waste plastic
and channelling it into efficient recycling and recovery
routes is widely recognized as a key way to reduce costs and
environmental
impact across
the
construction,
manufacturing and retail sectors in particular. The
recyclability of plastic is also one of its key strengths as an
extremely resource-efficient material and used plastic
should ideally be regarded as a valuable resource rather than
waste. There is no simple answer to how many times plastic
can be recycled. It depends on the type of plastic, how it is
being recycled and what it is being recycled for. Polymers do
slightly break down as they are recycled, but this minor
degradation is easily countered by mixing in calculated
amounts of ‘virgin’ (new) plastic. Once the plastic is collected
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and sent to a recycling centre, it is typically separated into
different polymer types, which are then separately shredded
(and impurities like paper are removed), then melted back
into polymer pellets. These pellets are then sold on to be
used in new products. Recycling and other recovery
processing routes help reduce environmental impacts, as
well as save costs, across the construction, manufacturing
and retail sectors in particular.
Recycling rates in the United Kingdom (UK) have come a
long way in recent years and continue to grow year on year.
For example, in the year 2000 only 13,000 tons of plastic
bottles were recycled (Hardesty and Wilcox, 2015); the UK
now recycles over 370,000 tons a year (Jambeck, 2015). The
total proportion of plastics being recycled varies by region
around the world, with the Europe (EU) coming third
overall.
There are six common types of plastics as indicated by
LeBlanc (2019),
 PS (Polystyrene) – Example: foam hot drink cups, plastic
cutlery, containers, and yogurt.
 PP (Polypropylene) – Example: lunch boxes, take-out
food containers, ice cream containers.
 LDPE (Low-density polyethylene) – Example: garbage
bins and bags.
 PVC (Plasticised Polyvinyl chloride or polyvinyl
chloride)—Example: cordial, juice or squeeze bottles.
 HDPE (High-density polyethylene) – Example: shampoo
containers or milk bottles.
 PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) – Example: fruit juice
and soft drink bottles.
Currently, only PET, HDPE, and PVC plastic products are
recycled under curbside recycling programs. PS, PP, and
LDPE typically are not recycled because these plastic
materials get stuck in the sorting equipment in recycling
facilities causing it to break or stop. Lids and bottle tops
cannot be recycled as well. To recycle or Not to Recycle is a
big question when it comes to plastic recycling. Some plastic
types are not recycled because they are not economically
feasible to do so (LeBlanc, 2019).
There is no mandatory need to mark plastic in a way that
signifies what polymer it is. However, to aid recycling, the
British Plastic Federation (BPF) recommends that larger
parts and packaging should be marked with an appropriate
identification code. The BPF recommends the use of a coding
system devised by the Plastics Industry Association as
below. Molded plastics items should be marked in
accordance with ISO 11469:2016 where possible (British
Plastics Federation, 2020).
PET
polyethylene
terephthalate
Water bottles, soft and fizzy drink bottles, pots, tubs, oven ready trays,
jam jars
HDPE
high-density
polyethylene
Chemical drums, jerricans, carboys, toys, picnic ware, household and
kitchenware, cable insulation, carrier bags, food wrapping material.
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PVC
polyvinyl chloride
Window frames, drainage pipe, water service pipe, medical devices,
blood storage bags, cable and wire insulation, resilient flooring,
roofing membranes, stationery, automotive interiors and seat
coverings, fashion and footwear, packaging, cling film, credit cards,
synthetic leather and other coated fabrics.
LDPE
low density
polyethylene
Squeeze bottles, toys, carrier bags, high frequency insulation, chemical
tank linings, heavy duty sacks, general packaging, gas and water pipes.
PP
polypropylene
Buckets, crates, toys, medical components, washing machine drums,
bottle caps, and battery cases.
PS
polystyrene
Toys and novelties, rigid packaging, refrigerator trays and boxes,
cosmetic packs and costume jewellery.
Other
other types of plastics
As of 2015, approximately 6.3 billion tons of plastic waste
had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled,
12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills
or the natural environment (Geyer, 2017). In 2016 only 14%
of plastic waste was recycled globally (Ellen, 2016).
According to the United State Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the recycling rate for plastics overall was
9.1% in 2015. Certain products have higher rates, such as
PET bottles and jars at 29.9%, and HDPE natural bottles at
30.3%. These rates are lower than certain other materials,
like steel cans, that had an estimated recycling rate of 71.3%
in 2015 (Ferrous Metals, 2019, Plastic Materials, 2016).
Japan's plastic waste utilization rate stood at 39% in 1996,
increasing to 73% in 2006, 77% in 2011 (McCurry, 2011),
83% in 2014 and 86% in 2017, according to the nation's
Plastic Waste Management Institute. The Ocean Conservancy
reported that China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and
Vietnam dump more plastic in the sea than all other
countries combined (Hannah, 2018). Scientific American
reported that China dumps 30% of all plastics in the ocean,
followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria and Bangladesh (Will,
2019). The United States, in 2015, produced 34.5 million
tons of plastic, which was about 13% of total waste (Olem,
2017). About 9% of that was recycled. Most of the waste
stream is biodegradable, but plastic though only 13% of the
waste stream is persistent and accumulates (Olem, 2017).
British Plastics Federation (BPF) Member, Axion Polymers,
analysed its carban footprint. It found that substituting one
tone of virgin polypropylene (PP) for one tone of Axpoly rPP
would save nearly 1200 kg CO2, which is the equivalent to
transporting the materials from London to Milan in a
standard lorry. Although this data is specific to Axion
Polymers’process, other methods will show similar benefits
(Axionpolymers 2017).
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As more plastic is recovered and recycled, it provides
increasing amounts of raw material for the recycling sector,
which can be used for either 'closed loop' or ‘open loop’
recycling. Closed loop recycling means a product is recycled
into another, almost identical product. A simple example of
this is recycling a PET drink bottle into a new PET drink
bottle. Open loop recycling means a product is turned into a
new type of product. For example, recycled plastic packaging
could end up in a plastic water pipe, a park bench or even a
pair of trainers. Although many environmentalists
understandably favour closed loop recycling, open loop
recycling is still valuable as products like a park bench have
a very long life, using recycled material is often more
resource efficient and applications like this provide a market
for recycled plastic that is not of sufficient quality or purity
for going back into products that will be in contact with food
or drink. Broadly, there are two major ways to recycle
plastic: (Indorama, 2016) (1) mechanical recycling ("chop
and wash", where the plastic is washed, ground into
powders and melted, and (2) chemical recycling, where the
plastic is broken down into basic components.
Technically, every plastic can be recycled, but the extent to
which they are recycled depends upon economic and
logistical factors. The most widely recycled plastics are the
two used to make soft drinks bottles and milk bottles: PET
and HDPE. Traditional recycling is known as ‘mechanical
recycling’. A technology known as ‘chemical recycling’ means
mixed batches of all types of plastic can be recycled – even
back into food-grade packaging. The application of this
technology to recycle large amounts of plastic is relatively
new and work is underway to scale it up (Plastic Europe,
2019).
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An estimated 60 companies are pursuing chemical recycling
as of 2019. In 2019, Eastman Chemical Company announced
initiatives for methanolysis of polyesters and polymer
gasification to syngas designed to handle a greater variety of
used material (Siegel, 2019). Chemical recycling’ is the broad
term used to describe a range of technologies, other than
mechanical recycling, that are emerging in the plastic waste
recycling sector to recycle plastics streams that are currently
sent to landfill or incineration.
In turning plastic waste back into base chemicals and
chemical feed stocks, these processes are defined as
recycling and contribute to improving recycling rates and
enable the petrochemical industry to manufacture new
virgin quality and food grade polymers with recycled
content. New technologies have been developed for chemical
recycling and several pilot plants across Europe are
operating and expanding on an industrial scale. Commercial
plants will range in size from large-scale centralized plants
with 30-200kt annual throughput to much smaller modular,
distributed units with capacity from 3-10kt per annum.
Although different technologies will operate differently and
produce different end-products, the broader category of
chemical recycling is a complementary recycling solution to
mechanical recycling for residual plastic waste, able to
extract further value from polymers that have exhausted
their potential for further mechanical processing. Chemical
recycling provides an alternative to landfill and incineration
for erstwhile hard-to-recycle plastic wastes, such as films,
multi-layered and laminated plastics (Plastic Europe, 2019).
Most plastic recycling facilities use the following two-step
process: Step One: Sorting plastics automatically or with a
manual sort to make sure all the contaminants are removed
from the plastic waste stream. Step Two: Melting down
plastics directly into a new shape or shredding into flakes
then melting down before being finally processed into
granulates. Ongoing innovations in recycling technologies
have made the plastic recycling process easier and more
cost-effective. Such technologies include reliable detectors
and sophisticated decision and recognition software that
collectively enhance the productivity and accuracy of
automatic sorting of plastics. For an example, FT-NIR
detectors can run for up to 8,000 hours between faults in the
detectors. Another notable innovation in plastic recycling
has been in finding higher value applications for recycled
polymers in closed-loop recycling processes. Since 2005, for
example, PET sheets for thermoforming in the United
Kingdom can contain 50 percent to 70 percent recycled PET
through the use of A/B/A layer sheets. Recently, some
European countries including Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway,
and Austria have begun collecting rigid packaging such as
pots, tubs, and trays as well as a limited amount of postconsumer flexible packaging. Due to recent improvements in
washing and sorting technologies, the recycling of non-bottle
plastic packaging has become feasible (LeBlanc, 2019).
The recycling of plastic bottles has been made mandatory in
several U.S. states including California, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, New Jersy, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and
Wisconsin. Recycling is critical to effective end-of-life plastic
management. Increasing recycling rates have resulted from
greater public awareness and the increased effectiveness of
recycling operations. Recycling of a greater range of postconsumer plastic products and packaging will further boost
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recycling and divert more end-of-life plastic wastes from
landfills (LaBlanc, 2019).
In 2019, Brightmark Energy in the United States began
building a facility to convert 100,000 tons of mixed plastic
per into diesel, naphtha blend stocks, and wax; (Commercial
Plastic, 2019) the company plans to expand into building
another plant which can process an additional 800,000 tons
of plastic per year (Munucipal Sector, 2019). The company
has said that the economics have a significant margin of
safety from price declines (Investors Explain Decision,
2019).
Recently, the use of block copolymers as molecular stitches
(Creton, 2017), or "macromolecular welding flux" has been
proposed (Eagan, J. M. et al (2017), to overcome the
difficulties associated with phase separation during
recycling (Fleischman, 2017). Certain bioplastics, such as
PLA, recycled by breaking down plastic polymers into their
chemical building blocks, can be recycled hundreds of times.
The use of biodegradable plastics or plastics which can be
organically recycled or can be composted in industrial
composting is increasing for certain short-lived packaging
applications (Hatti, Tornvall, Gustafsson and Borjesson,
2007).
A process has also been developed in which many kinds of
plastic can be used as a carbon source (in place of coke) in
the recycling of scrap steel (Scientist, 2014). There are also
possibilities for better recycling of mixed plastics, avoiding
the need for expensive/inefficient separation of the plastic
waste stream. One such method is called compatibilization
which uses special chemical bridging agents called
compatibilizers to maintain the quality of mixed polymers
(Ignatyev, Thielemans, Beke, 2014). Post-consumer
polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) containers are
sorted into different color fractions and baled for onward
sale. PET recyclers further sort the baled bottles and they are
washed and flaked (or flaked and then washed). Non-PET
fractions such as caps and labels are removed during this
process. The clean flake is dried. Further treatment can take
place e.g. melt filtering and pelletizing or various treatments
to produce food-contact-approved recycled PET (RPET). This
sorted post-consumer PET waste is crushed, chopped into
flakes, pressed into bales, and offered for sale (Idea, 2010).
The recycling of ‘post-commercial’ industrial and
agricultural films is well established in the UK. Products
made from recycled films include refuse sacks, damp-proof
membranes, fencing and garden furniture. Collection of
‘post-consumer’ film is still developing, however, and
currently few councils collect it. This currently refers to the
very thin films that often seal food within a plastic tray, for
example. Films are extremely resource efficient from a CO2
and material-use perspective and help to save countless tons
of food from going to waste every year. Post-consumer film
from packaging can, in fact, be recycled (all plastics can
technically be recycled). Chemical recycling technologies are
capable of converting mixed batches of all plastics, including
plastic films back into oil, which can then be converted back
into plastic.
Biodegradability is an area of growing interest and is often
viewed as a solution to litter. There is concern that the
mistaken idea that this material will necessarily break down
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in the natural environment could lead to an increase in
littering. Often, plastics that are referred to as
‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ require industrial
composting facilities to decompose and they will not break
down in the natural environment. There is also very limited
information and no standards available about how
biodegradable or oxodegradable material will perform in the
marine environment. The only standards available are for
industrial composting. The impact of degradable materials
on the recycling of conventional plastics is also a major
concern for many recyclers. Even the perceived risk of
recycled material containing degradable plastic can prevent
a batch of recycled plastic from being used. This is especially
true for recycled plastic used in long-term applications, such
as in plastic pipes. Manufacturers do not want to risk their
products starting to biodegrade or for the quality to decline
unpredictably over time (Plastic Europe, 2019). The fact is
that, it is very hard to distinguish between a conventional
and a biodegradable or oxodegradable plastic means they
may contaminate existing recycling streams. If they were to
be more widely adopted, it is generally accepted that they
would need a separate collection system.
Oceanic plastic pollution has become a recent flashpoint for
public concern. Ocean plastic is expected to triple in the next
decade, and public concern has prompted leading
organizations around the world to take action towards
better plastic resource management and pollution
prevention (LeBlanc, 2019).
Aim of the Article
The aim of this article is to draw attention to the benefits of
recycling used plastics and how it is helping in keeping, the
built environment healthy, the products reused in the
architecture of the built environment.
In the United States, the recycling rate for PET packaging
was 31% in 2013, according to a report from The National
Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) and The
Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR). A total
of 1.798 billion pounds was collected and 475 million
pounds of recycled PET used out of a total of 5.764 billion
pounds of PET bottles (Recycling for PET, 2016).
Research Methodology
The instrument of more than two research strategies;
quantitative and qualitative research methods and their
tactics were used. Secondary data were based on direct
observation and relevant documents from previous studies
on the related matter.
Findings
Plastic recycling faces many challenges, ranging from mixed
plastics to hard-to-remove residues. The cost-effective and
efficient recycling of the mixed plastic stream is perhaps the
biggest challenge facing the recycling industry. Experts
believe that designing plastic packaging and other plastic
products with recycling in mind can play a significant role in
facing this challenge. The recovery and recycling of postconsumer flexible packaging is a recycling problem. Most
material recovery facilities and local authorities do not
actively collect it due to a lack of equipment that can
efficiently and easily separate them (LeBlanc, 2019).
Recycling empty plastic containers (wastes) has a lot of
advantages and the importance can never be
overemphasized. The advantages would include, but not
limited to:
 Provision of sustainable source of raw materials to the
industries
 Greatly reduces the environmental (especially the CO2)
impact of plastic-rich products
 Minimizes the amount of plastic being sent to the landfill
sites
 Avoids the consumption of the Earth’s oil stocks
 Consumes less energy than producing new, virgin
polymers
 Embeds the right values and behaviour to reduce human
impact on the environment (Axionpolymers, 2017)
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One use for this recycled PET is to create fabrics to be used
in the clothing industry (PT, 2009) The fabrics are created by
spinning the PET flakes into thread and yarn (Idea, 2010).
This is done just as easily as creating polyester from brand
new PET (Reware’s 2010). The recycled PET thread or yarn
can be used either alone or together with other fibers to
create a very wide variety of fabrics. Traditionally these
fabrics are used to create strong, durable, rough products,
such as jackets, coats, shoes, bags, hats, and accessories since
they are usually too rough for direct skin contact and can
cause irritation. However, these types of fabrics have
become more popular as a result of the public's growing
awareness of environmental issues. Numerous fabric and
clothing manufacturers have capitalized on this trend
(Billabong, 2008).
Scientists have estimated that the potential commodity value
of waste plastic may be in excess of $300 per ton when used
in process pathways yielding high-value chemical products
or to produce electricity in efficient IGCC (Integrated
Gasification Combined Cycle) processes (Fox, Stacy, 2019).
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is a commonly recycled
plastic. HDPE's highly crystalline structure makes it a strong,
high density, moderately stiff plastic. HDPE Thermoplastic
materials become liquid at their melting point—around
130 °C. A major benefit of thermoplastics is that they can be
heated to melting point, cooled, and reheated again without
significant degradation. Instead of burning, thermoplastics
like PE (Polyethylene) liquefy, allowing them to be easily
extruded or injection molded and turned into brand new
HDPE pipe. Often it is typically downcycled into plastic
lumber, tables, roadside curbs, benches, truck cargo liners,
trash receptacles, stationery (e.g. rulers) and other durable
plastic products and is usually in demand (Polystyrene,
2017).
After sorting, for mechanical recycling the plastic recyclables
are then shredded. These shredded fragments then undergo
processes to eliminate impurities like paper labels. This
material is melted and often extruded into the form of pellets
which are then used to manufacture other products. The
highest quality purification may be referred to as
"regeneration" (Understanding Recycling, 2019).
Each time plastic is recycled, additional virgin materials
must be added to help improve the integrity of the material.
So, even recycled plastic has new plastic material added in.
The same piece of plastic can only be recycled about 2–3
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times before its quality decreases to the point where it can
no longer be used (National Geography, 2019).
Most polystyrene products are not recycled due to the lack of
incentive to invest in the compactors and logistical systems
required. As a result, manufacturers cannot obtain sufficient
scrap. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) scrap can easily be added
to products such as EPS insulation sheets and other EPS
materials for construction applications. When it is not used
to make more EPS, foam scrap can be turned into clothes
hangers, park benches, flower pots, toys, rulers, stapler
bodies, seedling containers, picture frames, and architectural
molding from recycled PS. Recycled EPS is also used in many
metal casting operations. Rastra is made from EPS that is
combined with cement to be used as an insulating
amendment in the making of concrete foundations and walls.
Since 1993, American manufacturers have produced
insulating concrete forms made with approximately 80%
recycled EPS (Polystyrene, 2017).
Successful trials in Israel have shown that plastic films
recovered from mixed municipal waste streams can be
recycled into useful household products such as buckets
(Plastic Trial Procedure, 206). Similarly, agricultural plastics
such as mulch film, drip tape and silage bags are being
diverted from the waste stream and successfully recycled
(Agricultural Plastic, 2008) into much larger products for
industrial applications such as plastic composite railroad ties
(Plastic Composite Railroad Tie Facts, 2008). Historically,
these agricultural plastics have primarily been either
landfilled or burned on-site in the fields of individual farms
(Garthe, Kowal, 2017).
CNN reports that Dr. S. Madhu of the Kerala Highway
Research Institute, India, has formulated a road surface that
includes recycled plastic: aggregate, bitumen (asphalt) with
plastic that has been shredded and melted at a temperature
below 220 °C (428 °F) to avoid pollution. This road surface is
claimed to be very durable and monsoon rain resistant. The
test road used 60 kg of plastic for an approximately 500meter-long, 8-meter-wide, two-lane road. The process chops
thin-film road-waste into a light fluff of tiny flakes that hotmix plants can uniformly introduce into viscous bitumen
with a customized dosing machine. Tests at both Bangalore
and the Indian Road Research Centre indicate that roads
built using this 'KK process' will have longer useful lives and
better resistance to cold, heat, cracking, and rutting, by a
factor of 3 (Patel, 2003).
The quantity of post-consumer plastics recycled has
increased every year since at least 1990, but rates lag far
behind those of other items, such as newspaper (about 80%)
and corrugated fiberboard (about 70%) (Alan, 2007).
Overall, U.S. post-consumer plastic waste for 2008 was
estimated at 33.6 million tons; 2.2 million tons (6.5%) were
recycled and 2.6 million tons (8%) were burned for energy;
28.9 million tons, or 86%, were discarded in landfills
(Journalist’s Resources.org, Retrieved May 2020).
As applied in India’s road construction works, the use of
recycled plastic products is equally gaining attention in the
architecture of the built environment, buildings and in
landscaping works. Plate 4 is a picture of recycled plastic
melted and used in building palets.
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Plate 4. Live components built tectonic Landscape
Source: Designboom
Plate 5 is a pavilion built with recycled plastic materials.
Plate 6 is a chair, made of plastic bottles held in place with
fabricated metal frame.
Plate 5. Plastic Pavilion
Source:https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bd/d7/f7/bdd7f73
57a6b069b818831dea891bd08.jpg
Plate 6. Chair made of upcycled plastic bottles
Source: Powel Grunert, designwillsavetheworld.net
With the abundance of empty plastic bottles and soil, most
poor communities have embarked on taking advantage of
the resources in building comfortable houses for themselves
(plates 7, 8 and 9). Plate 7 shows a collection of empty
plastic bottles been filled with sand and used in building
walls in plates 8 and9.
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work is the case in India. With the trend in both the rural and
urban areas especially, in the poor communities, where the
poor are creating jobs for themselves by picking, collecting
and selling empty plastic wastes for money, the government
should promote and encourage established collection and
sorting centers for the enablement and growth of plastic
recycling programmes in their areas.
Plate 7. Plastic bottles been filled with sand, to be used
in urban poor shelter
Source: Duchung (retrieved September 26, 2017).
Plate 8. Typical urban poor shelter made of plastic
bottles filled with sand.
Source: Duchung (retrieved September 26, 2017).
Conclusion
With the global environmental concerns and covering of
both the built environment and the waters of the world with
wastes and especially, empty plastic containers, researchers
and innovators are resourcefully, looking for ways to put in
use, the empty plastic containers resulting in recycling
programmes. This has resulted in mass recycling practices of
empty plastic containers all over the world. Virtually every
country now, has a plastic recycling association, with
interest in organizing used plastic collection and recycling
programmes, that would enable reestablishment of product
packaging and recycling of packaging materials by using
recycled plastic products. These are all geared towards
keeping both the built environment and the waters of the
world clean at the same time, creating job opportunities for
the people.
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